


Light Before Darkness: Twisted Beginnings

by FlyWhiskers



Series: Light Before Darkness [1]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Comfort, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Elijah being a nice guy, F/M, First story, Gore, Graphic Injury, JAKE IS A DICK, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Mystery, Not Descriptive Death, Not Descriptive Injury, Original Characters - Freeform, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shooting, Slow Build, Uh oh guts out, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:15:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29406102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyWhiskers/pseuds/FlyWhiskers
Summary: Two souls, plucked from different timelines, a web spiraling with deception, turmoil and loss.One, a young prodigy to an ever growing scientist in the 1950's her life being taken away in one fall evening to a macabre slaughter, trying to piece together her lost memories and discover the hidden, disturbing truths about the man that is her father.The other, an outcast and runaway from the 1980's, placed on the wrong side of the realm, coming to terms with the horrendous actions he has done and.. Finding a new connection to this girl that he somehow started caring for.Will the Entity's games take them over, or will they manage to survive.. And perhaps even thrive?-More tags will be added with each Chapter! This is my first ever full story and based on rp with the same name, so criticism is completely fine! I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Elijah Hardt/Lauren Robbins-Shine, Other Relationships
Series: Light Before Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160207





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is Fly here, and I just want to say tysm for stopping by and reading my story! Just here to give you some warnings.  
> This is intended for mature audiences, and should only be read if you are 18+. Although this chapter has no graphic imagery, most of the other chapters will.  
> This chapter takes place in Lauren's pov, and will go back and forth between her and Elijah as the story goes on. Comments and criticism is always welcome!

Darkness. All that she could see was pure darkness.  
She couldn't move. Couldn't see. Couldn't breath.. But she could think. She could think about everything.  
It was... 1951. June.. No, July 16th. Yeah, that sounded right. It was the day of the Press Conference. Dad's Press Conference.. She remembered him. Grayson Maxwell Shine. She had his last name, but preferred Robbins, her mom's last name, over it.. Because not many people liked her dad. He was quiet, cold. A scientist with ideas that pushed the boundaries of normal science. Spending his days testing on bugs and collecting shells..  
They always had a Press Conference every year, but this one was different. Grayson was finally going to be promoted, getting benefits and becoming the true scientist that he had spent his whole life towards.  
Lauren remembered the morning clear as day. Remembered waking up, her alarm loud and ringing. She could still hear it, echoing through her ears like it was a sound bouncing off the walls of a cavern.  
Lauren had gotten a nice outfit to wear to the conference; a black, shining tuxedo and shining grey heels. She didn't want to wear a dress; she hated them, hated the way they showed her worse areas off, hated the way she tripped over the cloth that dragged behind her. She felt comfort in a suit, and her father didn't mind; when she asked for one, he called her 'unique, but in a good way', and kissed her head. She had gotten her hair done up, curled and frizzy..  
The rest of the morning.. And all the other memories of the day.. Were a bit of a blur.  
The rest of the memories seemed to fly by.. Eating breakfast with dad.. Getting in the car.. Arriving at the Conference. It seemed to almost blend together, like wet colours of paint on a canvas, mixing and dripping away. The later it got into the day, the more blurred her memories were.  
Going inside.. Seeing her father up on the stands, showing off his experiments.. A black moth with red eyes in a cage next to him.. Loud yelling, and then..The snap of a chair leg and-  
Nothing more.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren finds a campfire

Lauren didn't get a chance to remember the rest. A loud, echoey bang resonated in her ears, and by the time she was able to realize dream from reality, she felt the ground practically appear from underneath her. Soft grass poked at her hands and was like a nature's blanket, which may have been why she slept for so long. Kind of a relief.

Finally stirring, she opened her eyes slowly, and tried to figure out what was going on.. Everything was a blur. The only sounds she could hear was light patterning of rain, her slow breathing, and soft caws of what sound like crows above her. She couldn’t figure out where that loud bang originated from.. Was this a dream? Yeah, probably. This was.. Most definitely a dream. There was no way it wasn’t. No way she could be in some weird forest, by herself, covered in mud and whatever else is on her clothes. 

“Nggh..” Softly groaning underneath her breath, Lauren gradually made her way onto shaky, pain filled legs, her breathing heavy and coming out in small puffs. Rubbing her head, she parted her dark brown hair to try and look around, her bright hazel pupils trying to clear up so she could maybe figure out what this place was. Now that she was focusing more on the area around her, she could feel more of the pain that coursed in her stomach, and in her head. She had no clue why her body hurt so much; she didn’t remember being injured in any way. Come to think of it.. She could barely remember anything that happened. 

Looking around the odd area, she saw a light out in the distance. Smoke rising from the source, she instantly realized it was some sort of a fire.. And she could hear voices as well. Several voices. There’s people there.. Maybe they have a phone or something, I can get an ambulance. She thought to herself, and started to move. Slowly but surely, Lauren took a step forward, letting out a pained groan as she did from the splintering agony in her feet and chest. Her body shouldn’t hurt this bad, but it did, and in the darkness of the forest she couldn’t see what was even wrong with her. She couldn’t see regardless, as her vision was blurry and she could barely see out of her left eye. Another step, another whimper of pain, which repeated over and over as she limped her way to the light. 

“H-h-elp..” Her voice was a stammered whisper, unable to go any higher from exhaustion in her legs. Her head was ringing with pain at this point, as she made her way through the forest, getting closer to the fire. and.. Saw the blurry, bright figure of a campfire. 

Along with several people staring at her. 

“Someo-one.. Please.. Plea-ase hel-lp.. Am-mbulance.. I n-need an- an ambulan-nce..” Unable to keep herself up anymore, Lauren let her legs fall over, making her collapse to the ground. She heard several footsteps around her, but she couldn’t figure out where they were anymore; her vision was a blur.. But she heard several voices too.   
..  
“Dwight, get a medkit!”  
..  
“Is she okay?  
..  
“God, her face looks horrible.. What on earth happened to her?” 

She listened to the frantic yells, not knowing what was really going on, until she felt herself being picked up by someone and made her snap back into reality. Squirming in the person’s grip, she whimpered in pain, feeling her shirt being tugged up and the cold air hit something on her chest that almost made her scream. She heard gasps around her, and then shocked silence. 

Feeling something pressing against what she could only assume was a wound, she felt the air being knocked out of her lungs and loudly whimpered in pain, trying to squirm again when she heard a surprisingly clear voice. 

“Hey, hey kid. Calm down, I know it probably hurts like a bitch. Just look at me.” 

She looked up, seeing the blurry figure of a man holding her, pressing a gauze against her stomach. She looked down at the wound, but her vision was so messed up at the moment that all she could see was large blobs of red and white. Even with her poor sight she knew that it was probably serious, especially since it hurt like a bitch. Lauren knew out of the corner of her mind that they were trying to help her, but it hurt so much, she couldn’t stop her body from slightly twitching and writhing every so often. 

“Elijah! I found some pain killers, I think.” 

“Oh, thank god, Steve. Quick, give me them.” 

She heard another voice, and looked over at the blurry figure before looking back at the man. Was that who this was, that was helping her? Elijah? 

Why do I care so much? She asked herself. 

She couldn’t put it together at the moment, due to the fact that everything hurt so bad. She was about to close her eyes when she felt something press up against her mouth. She instinctively slammed her lips shut, shaking her head rapidly. 

“Hey, I need you to take these, alright? It will stop the pain and then you can just relax for a bit.Does that sound good, kid?” 

Lauren stopped. No pain? Maybe being able to sleep? Now that was something she could get behind. She nodded slowly, before she leaned her head back and felt the pills and some water go into her mouth, swallowing them slowly. It hurt like all hell when she did that, her throat becoming slightly sore, but over a bit of time she felt the pain ebbing away, which she didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. The pain being replaced by numbing exhaustion, she closed her eyes slightly, feeling the arms that were holding her tighten a bit and pull her closer to their chest. She let him, not being able to stop him anyway, and just listened to the voices around her. 

“Elijah, you’re literally cradling her like a newborn baby, you look ridiculous.” Someone near them remarked. 

“Shut up, crow boy. Does it look like I care? Did you see how fucked up she is?” The person holding her rebutted, and she heard him sigh. “Her guts were literally coming out of her body! She literally looks like Quentin’s age; she deserves some comfort, you jackass.” 

Wait… My guts were spilling out? Lauren’s eyes widened a bit as she heard that. Damn, no wonder it hurt so bad. How on earth did she not notice? And who are they even talking about anyway? She went out of her thoughts when she heard more talking.

“What on earth could have done this to her?” Another new voice. This one sounded worried, as if it was actually concerned about this person that they didn’t know. How many people are at this freaking campfire? Lauren asked herself. 

“I don’t know, why don’t you go look in the forest and find out, Brave Leader?” The guy Elijah called ‘Crow Boy’ told the other voice, and Lauren could hear a wince from them. Ouch. 

“Jake, Jesus Christ calm down.” Great, another voice. This one sounded deeper, kind of like they were much older then any of the other people here. 

“Yeah, you aren’t helping. If you want to be useful why don’t you go get me a blanket and some food or something for her.” That was the guy that was holding her again. Man, a blanket sounds great right now…

“Fine, fine, I’ll get it. You get to explain why she’s here though. Have fun telling her about the trials.” 

Now that made her extremely confused. What on earth was a trial? Why did that Jake guy say it like she was stuck here? It was just some forest.. And why hadn’t anyone called 911 yet? This was just getting weirder by the second and she had no clue what was even happening. 

She heard footsteps, which she assumed was the Jake guy getting up to get her stuff, and she looked up at the person holding her with blurry eyes. “Where.. Whe-ere am I..?” She whispered out. 

Lauren heard the man sigh, and felt a hand rub her head, hearing four words that sent shivers of horror and confusion up her skin. 

“Welcome to hell, Kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooo! Sorry i took so long, i rewrote this four times. Whoops.  
> Elijah will be here as the pov next chapter!


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elijah tries to comfort a new member of the Realm, and doesn't do that well.

It was a normal day at the campfire. Well, as a normal of a day could be in the Entity’s realm. 

Elijah was resting in the area, Steve, Dwight and Jake near him as well. He was smoking a cigar, thankfully this place had tons of them, and was lying his head back on a log.. Man, he was tired. 

The previous trial was hard, but it turned out in their favor. Dwight and Elijah practically sped run the generators, while Jake and Steve took their time distracting the killer- He thinks it was the Wraith, he didn’t even see the killer that round- and they managed to get out with no dead survivors. A successful trial like that always got people's moods up. 

The fisherman sighed, his leather jacket thankfully protecting him from the sharp wind. Well, that was always the sign of a new survivor. He had felt this breeze several times beforehand, so it wasn’t a new thing or anything. They would arrive, asking where they are and the typical things, and Jake, Meg or Dwight would be the one explaining it to them. Nothing new. 

He was about to ask Dwight something, when he heard a rustling from the bushes. Wow, that was quick. He turned around, expecting to see a confused individual, but.. What he saw made his jaw drop, as the campfire turned to silence for a moment. 

It was a girl, and they looked fucking horrible. Their clothes were torn and stained with blood, and Elijah could see it dripping behind her as she stumbled into the area. Her face was heavily bruised up, one of her eyes looked almost ripped open.. And the scariest thing was the ever growing red stain on her chest. 

“Someo-one.. Please.. Plea-ase hel-lp.. Am-mbulance.. “I n-need an- an ambulan-nce..” 

He was shocked as she spoke, before seeing her collapse to the ground and everyone around him freaked out. 

“Dwight! Get a medkit!” Jake howled out, and Dwight instantly ran off.

Steve looked at the fallen over figure with wide eyes, running to them. “Is.. Is she okay?” He seemed to already know the answer, but still asked it anyway. 

Jake went over as well, confused. “God, her face looks horrible.. What the hell happened to her?”

Elijah seemed to freeze. He knew that he rarely ever helped new survivors before but.. Seeing this kid come in, bloody and begging for help.. He couldn’t control himself. 

“Move.” Almost like an order, Elijah shoved Jake out of the way and picked the kid up. Instantly, he felt them start squirming around in his grip, hearing soft whimpers. He noticed the red mark getting bigger on her shirt, and pulled the bottom of it up-

And his eyes widened with horror.

The poor girl’s organs were hanging out; he had no fucking clue how she was even alive right now. The kid seemingly felt the wind going against her wound, and she let out a whimper like scream, trying to struggle more.

“Holy fucking shit.” Jake whispered out, staring at the wound as well, and Steve had vanished.. Probably to go vomit, Elijah guessed. 

“I’m back! I got the-” Dwight stopped when he saw what was going on and quickly gave the kit to Elijah. 

“Go ask Steve to get some painkillers or something, she may need them.”  
The fisherman quickly took a large gauze out and started wrapping it around the kid’s stomach, watching the blood seep into the bandage. 

Dwight nodded and quickly ran off again to find Steve, leaving Elijah alone with Jake and the kid.

Elijah saw that the kid was still struggling and whining; the bandage probably was putting some pressure on her wound, and may not feel too great. 

He sighed, and held her closer to his chest. “Hey, hey kid. Calm down. I know it probably hurts like a bitch.. Just look at me, okay?” 

The fisherman didn’t know if she would listen or not, but a bit of relief went into him when she saw her lookup. He was right.. Her left eye looked torn out, and probably won’t come back. Sighing again, he grabbed more gauze and carefully wrapped it around her eye, making sure not to get any hair underneath it that could potentially cause more discomfort. He could see the kid was still squirming a bit, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Elijah could tell she was at least trying to keep herself still.

“Elijah! I found some painkillers!”

He turned when he saw Steve running back, and sighed with relief. “Oh, thank god Steve. Quick, give me them.”

The teen ran over to give him the pills, and he popped the cap off, reading the instructions. Getting a water bottle, he unscrewed the cap and held it ready, before getting two of the pills and putting them near the kids mouth. He saw her close it up, and he sighed. 

“Hey, I need you to take these, alright? It will stop the pain and then you can just relax for a bit… Does that sound good, kid?” He spoke gently to her, and thankfully after a bit she opened her mouth, and swallowed the pills. Smiling, he grabbed a water bottle and gave her some sips, making sure to hold her close as she drank. 

He saw her close her eyes, and decided to hold her a bit closer, not minding if she fell asleep on him; She seemed to have been through enough for one day.

“Elijah, you’re literally cradling her like a newborn baby, you look ridiculous.” Jake remarked out of nowhere, sitting next to them. He seemed to be.. Not so sympathetic for the girl as Elijah was. 

“Shut up, crow boy. Does it look like I care? Did you see how fucked up she is?” Elijah spat back, before sighing. “Her guts were literally coming out of her body! She deserves some comfort, you jackass.” 

“..What on earth could have done this to her?” Dwight said, finally speaking after a while. He did have a point; Elijah had never seen a killer make someone’s organs spill out like this. 

“I don’t know, why don’t you go look in the forest and find out, Brave Leader?” Jake said sarcastically, and Elijah winced. Yikes.. That may have been a bit harsh.

“Jake, stop. You aren’t helping.” Elijah sighed. “If you want to be useful why don’t you go get me a blanket and some food or something for her.” 

“Fine, fine, I’ll get it.” Jake mumbled out, getting up. “You get to explain why she’s here though. Have fun telling her about the trials.” 

Elijah gulped. He did not sign up for that. 

Seeing them walk off, he was interrupted by a voice from the girl she was holding. 

“Where.. Where am I..?”

Elijah sighed. “Welcome to Hell, kid.” 

Maybe that.. Wasn’t the best thing to say. The kid instantly looked scared, and shook, seemingly not knowing how to register that information. 

"Hey, hey. Calm down, okay?" Elijah sighed and patted her head, and she stopped, looking up at him with wide, teary eyes. He was a bit surprised when she started nuzzling his hand, but then realized she was probably scared, not knowing where she was, why she was here, or who was even holding her. Poor kid..

But.. Jesus christ, she looked kind of adorable when she did that. Not in like, a weird way- her face just looked cute.. Wait. Why was he thinking about that?! He just met this girl- he can't be catching feelings for a fucking teenager. He was able to shove those thoughts out of his head, looking back at her. 

There was no way that he could tell her yet; she was a shivering ball of fear, despite the fact that he could see she was trying to hide it. He had to go slow, maybe ask her some questions about herself. Yeah.. That was a good idea.   
“What’s your name?” Elijah’s voice was soft, gentle, and comforting, slowly petting her head gently to keep her calm. Thankfully, he was the only one at the campfire at the moment.. He had no clue where Steve, Jeff and Dwight went; maybe they followed after Jake, who knows. He watched the kid look up at him, and saw the fear and confusion shining in her hazel eyes, and he smiled. “It’s alright. You can tell me, I’m not a big grizzly bear that’s gonna eat you up if you speak..” 

Surprisingly, the kid let out a chuckle. It was a low one, and a bit shaky, which he guessed was from fear, but it was still a laugh nonetheless. He smiled brighter, glad that she seemed to be almost calmed down. 

“Lauren.. My na-ame’s Lauren.. Lauren R-robbins.” 

He was a bit surprised when she spoke; her voice, like her laugh, was low, and sounded more like a tomboy, but was a bit soft on the vowels, as if it was a sort of accent. She stammered a few times, which Elijah thought was adorable as fuck, and then stopped after fully saying her name. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Lauren. My name is Elijah.” He kept his voice low and soft, as he saw some hair fall down on Lauren’s face and he gently moved it. He checked over her body quickly, making sure the bandages were in place before looking back up at her. “Do you know where you are right now?”

He wasn’t surprised at all as she shook her head. Of course the kid had no clue where she was; nobody does when they first arrive here. That may have not been the best question. So he tried a different approach. 

“Do you know how you got those wounds?” He asked. 

She shook her head again. 

“Do you remember anything before?” Now that was an important question. Some of the survivors didn’t remember jack shit about their old lives.. Some remembered every detail, like him. Most remember some of their past lives. 

Thankfully, Lauren nodded this time, and he sighed with relief. That was good. “Can you.. Tell me what you remember from the day before?”

She nodded slowly, letting out a soft cough before she started speaking. “I.. I rememb-er waking up and.. G-getting ready for a conference that m-m-my da-d had..” That made Elijah worried; this kid must be young, at least a teen, to be still living with her dad.. He wondered what sorts of things she could have seen to get those wounds. 

“What was the conference about, if you don’t mind me asking?” Elijah interrupted. He wanted to keep the topic of the Entity as far away as it could for now.. Might as well keep Lauren occupied with memories. 

“Oh, uh..” She looked surprised, as if she didn’t expect him to be interested in the topic, and fumbled on her words for a moment before she started speaking again. “M-my d-dad’s a scientist.. He e-experiments on in-insects and stuff.. And it was a… A meeting ab-bout whether he could get recognized for hi-his work or not.. He f-found some new species of b-bugs and stuff.” 

He was about to ask her more when he heard a couple of voices calling for him.

“Hey, Cuddle Boy! We got your shit.” Jake walked in, carrying a blanket on his back, Dwight helping a limping Steve behind him. “Don’t know why you couldn’t have got it.” 

“Jake! Be nice, he’s taking care of the new kid.” Dwight said stubbornly, and the Sabateor sighed, walking forward. Dwight adjusted his glasses a bit and sighed as well. “Sorry we took so long..” apologized, rubbing his head nervously as he was carrying a bag of stuff and helping the injured teen at the same time. Man, for a small shrimp he was strong. “Steve tripped on a rock on the way there and bruised up his foot.” 

“Dwight! You didn’t have to tell him that!” Steve yelled. He looked a bit pissed, but Elijah couldn’t blame him; the poor guy’s foot looked terrible. 

As they walked over, Elijah noticed Lauren huddled up against him. “Hey, it’s alright. They won’t hurt you. Okay, Jake might.. But the other two won’t.”He was rewarded with another laugh from her, this one more warm and genuine. He didn’t even care about the pissed off “Hey!” that Jake produced. That guy can go kiss his ass.

“So, um.. Have you told her anything yet?” Dwight asked Elijah, sitting down on one of the logs around the campfire and helping Steve down. 

“Well.. Not yet.” Elijah ignored Lauren’s confused look for a moment to stare at Dwight. “I’m not really sure how, you know that you or Jake always do it.” He wasn’t lying; He got told about this stuff when he first arrived by Dwight. As much as he couldn’t believe it, Dwight and Jake were the first one ever survivors brought here, along with Meg and Clauddete. Yeah, it was shocking. 

Dwight sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess we do.” He looked up at Elijah. “Alright, I guess me and Jake can explain that to her, if Jake wants to.. But can you watch Steve for me?”

“Hey, I don’t need watching.” Steve protested, sitting next to the two. “I’m completely fine-”

“Steve. You aren’t fine. Your foot is swelled up more than a balloon.” Dwight interrupted him, sounding stern. “Just let Elijah stay with you, for now, alright?” 

Steve sighed, but nodded, not wanting to argue with him. “Fine…” 

“What are you talking about..?”

Elijah’s gaze was brought back down to Lauren, who was still on his lap, shaking. He sighed. “Jake and Dwight are going to explain some things to you, alright?” He placed her down on the ground, resting her head against a log. “I’ll be right over here if you need me for anything.”

Jesus, he was treating this kid like his own fucking child. 

Elijah went over to Steve, and sat next to him, turning back to Lauren one last time.

This won’t be pretty..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woaaah record times! I'm surprised I got this done so quick.
> 
> Next chapters back with Lauren, and she'll get her explanation of where tf she is.. Wonder if she'll take it good.
> 
> See you next chapter!


End file.
